Aircraft MRO IT Architecture

ISSUE 2 • SUMMER 2011

Piecing the IT
jigsaw together
• EA: the beating heart of the business
• MRO IT Project Management: keeping the plan
How long did that take? capturing man-hours
Measuring electrical load
Using and keeping information with CMS
White Papers: ICF • AeroSoft • EnvelopeAPN
Case Studies: Lufthansa Technik Philippines • Marshall Aerospace

10 | WHITE PAPER: IT PLANNING | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | SUMMER 2011

Life is dynamic: business
must operate dynamically too
The Value of Enterprise Architecture & Strategic IT Planning to MRO Business Transformation, argues
Michael Wm. Denis, Principal at ICF SH&E, is that it is able to adapt to change while continuing to function

n UMEROUS SURvEyS OvER the past
decade have reported upwards of 70% of
IT initiatives across the MRO functional landscape
maintenance, supply chain and document / content
management solutions has advanced considerably in
terms of functionality and technical platforms, the
wHO SHOULd Own EnTERPRISE
ARCHITECTURE?
Before delving into the detail of ‘what’ EA is, the most
as failing outright, failing to deliver business value ability to plan, schedule, test, implement and train vital decision for corporate success is ‘who’ should
and return on investment or running over time and for new technology based capabilities is, to this own this discipline and responsibility. At a recent
over budget. This staggering statistic is a core reason day, a daunting task. Enterprise Architecture (EA) Gartner conference on IT Planning and Enterprise
why many airlines, third party MROs and aerospace is a framework that provides structure and Architecture, Vice President for IT Strategy and
companies have chosen to stick to their decades old simplification to IT planning and capability maturity Research, Philip Allega stated, “By 2016, 30% of EA
custom coded legacy systems. focused on enabling business processes, goals and efforts will be supported as a collaboration between
While the quality of commercial off-the-shelf transformation. business and IT (up from 9% in early 2011).”

SUMMER 2011 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WHITE PAPER: IT PLANNING | 11

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“Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a framework that
provides structure and simplification to IT planning
and capability maturity focused on enabling business
processes, goals and transformation.”
While the trend in who runs and owns EA is definitely headed in the right
direction, the current situation shows the IT origins of EA and the fact that
most business units still rely on the IT department to define and enable their
business strategy and operations success or failure. The aviation, aerospace and
defense industries are at the higher end of the trend of having business process
improvement reside in the business versus IT organization. One example is Delta
TechOps, the maintenance division of Delta Air Lines. Delta TechOps has had a
Managing Director, Process & Technology for over two decades. To some extent,
this was a natural consequence of the airline spinning off their IT Department
into a separate joint venture company in the early, 1990s. But the result was the
formation of a group of industrial engineers taking over all LEAN, Six Sigma,
Theory of Constraints, Business Process Reengineering / Business Process
Management and information technology program responsibility for the company.
Dr. Pallab Saha, professor at the National University of Singapore, Institute of
System Sciences (and self-proclaimed EA Evangelist), has a running debate on
the Enterprise Architecture Network group of Linkedin on why EA should not
reside in the IT Department. His top six reasons are:
6. Notwithstanding history and evolution, EA does not equal IT Architecture.
5. True EA leads to redistribution of authority and reallocation of accountability,
both beyond the CIO’s jurisdiction.
4. EA value proposition and benefits are solely business realizable.
3. The primary goal of EA is to build coherent enterprises, not better IT systems.
2. Organizations are complex adaptive systems, hence holistic synthesis takes
precedence over fractional analysis.
1. EA failure is a business organizational failure, not an IT failure. Resistance to
EA is a consequence of failure, not the cause of it
Whereas many organizations do not have engineers, so the skills required of
EA are not resident within business units, aviation maintenance and aerospace
companies do; thus the natural fit for EA to reside within the business and not
IT. The proper allocation of roles, responsibilities and authority for the various
domains of EA are shown in figure 1.

WhAT iS enTerpriSe ArChiTeCTure?
EA is actually multiple architectures and defined as the art and science of
designing ‘something’ for a specific purpose. Most people identify architecture
with the design of a building, landscape or urban area. In the traditional IT
sense, architecture is used in the design of systems. In operations research,
systems theory and the architecture of systems is a discipline unto itself and
common within the military and aerospace industries.
The word prior to architecture is the ‘context’ or ‘focus’ of a design, thus
Business Architecture, Data Architecture, Infrastructure Architecture, Technical
Architecture and Solutions or Application Architecture are all elements
of architecting or designing an enterprise. An enterprise can be an entire
corporation or a significantly unique or independent business unit, in this case
the sustainment lifecycle management of aircraft. Figure 2 shows the relationship
of the elements and sub-domains of EA.


manager’ understood his contribution
to the execution of that strategy.
The corporate strategy was enabled
by simple standardized capabilities
(common fleet, lean processes), low
cost point-to-point operations and
maximum asset utilization all of
which included a goal of 20 minute
aircraft turns. The additional time to
conduct a seatbelt check contributed
to preventing one enabler of the
corporation’s competitive advantage
and success.
A clear picture of corporate goals
and the contribution of people
executing processes makes all the
Figure 2
difference to the effectiveness and
As the diagram above shows, efficiency of an organization. This is
EA starts with BA, which includes closing the strategy to execution gap
Business or Corporate Governance, and aligning IT to business operations.
Business Strategy, Business Capability A clear picture of the business goal
Maturation, Business Process also makes a difference when creating
Management and Reengineering “You can’t get where you want to go if you don’t know the IT vision. IT is not an end unto
(BPR/BPM), Business Requirements itself but a business enabler. So it is
specification, Organizational Design, where you are. This is the single most important rule of essential to understand the business
Human Capital development, and EA. Many enterprises attempt to transform their business strategy first – including the goals
Business Performance Management. and capabilities required to deliver
Capabilities are, by definitions, the
and IT landscape without a clear understanding of their them and then tie that to the lifecycle
combination of people, organization, current processes, systems and capability maturity.” management of data, applications,
process, infrastructure, tools and infrastructure and enabling
technology that enable a business to Engineer at the Georgia Tech Research surveyed had made unnecessary middleware such as enterprise service
source, transform and deliver products Institute once said, “Transforming software or hardware purchases that bus technology. “Enterprise strategy
and services to customers and end Air Force Materiel Command is like could have been avoided if they had is what we focus on,” explains Gabriel
consumers. Therefore, maturing or rebuilding an F-16 into an F-22, while access to more accurate IT asset data. Morgan, Principal Enterprise Architect
improving capabilities are solely the in flight.” When it comes to IT planning, the at MSIT, Microsoft’s internal IT group.
responsibility and domain of the The role of IT is changing. From quality of your decision making can “When we integrate with enterprise
business. automation and transactional support, only be as good as the quality of strategy, IT strategy is really a by-
The context of EA starting with BA IT has grown to be an indispensable your data, information, knowledge product. The point is being a market
and the definition of success being part of operations. As technology and wisdom (DIKW). Dr. Karsten leader in our product line: IT is
measured by business performance transforms the way that organizations Schweichhart, Vice President of simply an enabler to get there.”
is why Gartner research analyst Julie do business, the IT function plays a Corporate Enterprise Architecture at
Short predicts, “By 2014, enterprises vital role in articulating the business Deutsche Telekom, puts it simply: “We RULE 3: ‘ALL dO SOME’ nOT
will make no distinction between strategy and objectives of enterprises. cannot develop a sustainable target ‘SOME dO ALL’ .
IT governance and corporate There are five basic rules to leveraging architecture if we don’t know where The only way to get an accurate,
governance.” EA to add business value. we are.” real time view of the current IT
landscape is to ensure that all changes
HOw dOES EA Add RULE 1: KnOw wHERE yOU RULE 2: ARTICULATE THE are carefully tracked and that the
vALUE TO MAInTEnAnCE ARE nOw. bUSInESS STRATEgy And information is stored in one place,
And EngInEERIng You can’t get where you want to go if gOALS TO KnOw wHERE system or tool. This cannot be done
ORgAnIzATIOnS? you don’t know where you are. This is yOU ARE gOIng. by one person alone or even by a
Building architects get to design their the single most important rule of EA. There is a famous story about an dedicated team. It requires everyone
structures on a clean sheet of paper, Many enterprises attempt to transform FAA liaison manager at Southwest who alters processes or technology
when nothing exists: in a corporation, their business and IT landscape Airlines, back in the early 1990s. The to document changes, when they are
on the other hand, the formalization without a clear understanding of FAA issued a Notice of Proposed made, to a central source.
of the architecture has to take place their current processes, systems and Rule Making (NPRM) to have Involving everyone responsible,
while the enterprise continues capability maturity. They rely on airlines conduct a seatbelt check rather than relying on a small group
to function and change. Every ‘tribal knowledge’ and approximate prior to closing the cabin door and of experts who monitor changes is
enterprise starts with huge amounts descriptions based on out-of-date pushing back the aircraft. According critical. It is the difference between the
of legacy ‘stuff’ including hardware, information in multiple PowerPoint to folklore, this middle manager supply department taking inventory
applications and processes, much of presentations, Visio diagrams, Excel called his VP and was in CEO once a month and an airline that
it unwieldy and requiring constant spreadsheets and Word documents, Herb Kelleher’s office the same day performs ‘point of maintenance
maintenance. Creating competitive often scattered across different constructing a response to defeat this inventory management’ using real
strategic advantage, business bonding locations. This inaccurate picture of NPRM. Why would a middle manager time remove and install configuration
to customers and implementing a the current process and technology become alarmed by such a benign control transactions. For a small
new IT landscape that best enables map will undermine every planning rule and why would the CEO get airline, a monthly snapshot may be
the business while keeping operations effort. personally involved? Because the core sufficient. But a major that operates
running, is a massive challenge. In a recent study, Nucleus Research business strategy was well articulated extremely tight supply chains needs an
As Gary O’Neil, Senior Research found that 42% of companies and communicated and this ‘middle up-to-the-minute picture of its stock

SUMMER 2011 | AIRCRAFT IT MRO | WHITE PAPER: IT PLANNING | 13

communicate and if there are no agreed words to describe objects
and ideas, communication is impossible. One of the critical
roles of EA, is to define and translate business and technology
entities and artifacts to ensure that these definitions are used as a
common language and are shared by all business units, technology
“Nucleus Research found that enterprise IT decision makers vendors and the IT department. Only when a common lexicon
rely on information that is, on average, 14 months old. To exists is it possible to create an accurate model of the IT landscape
and how these entities map to capabilities.
be honest, there are airlines that rely on EA artifacts that Accurate and consistent terminology is vital, but it is not
are 14 years old.” sufficient. Terminology needs to be ‘rich’, which means it can
address both business and IT realities. The manner in which you
to keep the business flying. describe your landscape determines what you can do – e.g. it is
The same is true of enterprises and their complex process and only possible to manage vendor contracts if all necessary contract
technology landscapes – a real time view is essential to make and license information is captured.
good decisions. Yet, in a recent study, Nucleus Research found Ideally, IT planning forms part of business strategy development,
that enterprise IT decision makers rely on information that is, on informing executives of opportunities, risks and solutions, and
average, 14 months old. To be honest, there are airlines that rely suggesting clear roadmaps that maximize value and minimize
on EA artifacts that are 14 years old. disruption to operations. It’s vital to know what we have, if we
No software solution can provide accurate IT asset data on want to manage our business and technology from application
its own. It requires the right processes and the engagement of portfolio management through to strategy definition and capability
everyone responsible for business and IT change. Susan Green, alignment.
Global Head of Business Enterprise Architecture at Bank of “We get a chance to bring IT to a very interesting peer level
America, puts it like this: “It’s vital to know what we have, if we conversation with the presidents of the company,” explains
want to manage our business and technology from application Gabriel Morgan, Principal Enterprise Architect at MSIT,
portfolio management through to strategy definition and capability Microsoft’s internal IT group. “When the strategy is formed,
alignment.” the enterprise architecture captures that strategy, analyses
impact and brings back the information to inform decisions on
rule 4: CollAborATe And CommuniCATe To what can and cannot be done, and what are the risks. Based on
enAble enTerpriSe deCiSion mAking. that information, the strategy is then articulated. IT is a part of
Many ancient civilizations have a ‘Tower of Babel’ myth, in which that decision.” This level of integration between IT architecture
the world is thrown into confusion by the sudden appearance and business architecture is not common within the aviation
of different languages. It is impossible to collaborate if you can’t industries. But it should be.

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MICHAEL wM. dEnIS
Michael is a Principal in ICF SH&E’s
Commercial & Business Aviation
(CBA) practice. He has over 23
years of extensive operations and
technology experience in the airline,
aerospace, defense and transport industries.
Michael’s experience includes numerous
positions of increasing P&L responsibility and
encompasses diverse functions including
corporate strategy, market analysis, scenario
planning, mergers & acquisitions, designing
enterprise architectures, defining balance score
card performance metrics, capability maturation
and process reengineering.
His key information technology experience
RULE 5: USE EnTERPRISE TOOLS TO Visio and Word are not enterprise collaboration includes aviation maintenance and supply
TRAnSfORM EnTERPRISE CAPAbILITIES tools, even with the addition of Outlook and chain management, autonomics & aircraft
It is also critically important to both realize and SharePoint. Even Microsoft Corporation uses health management, flight operations systems,
embrace change. When planning a route, it is not specialized EA technology. Enterprise Architecture computer reservation systems, and enterprise
enough to know where you are and where you want tools are the only way to ensure that the impact resource planning solutions.
to be – you have to understand the flight path and of any environmental change is fully understood Most recently, Michael has focused his research
environment in between. As Neil Stronach, Senior in advance and that your navigation system is on Software-as-a-Service and Business Process
Vice President, Operations at Delta Air Lines always constantly updated to support corporate decision Outsourcing operational models combined
says, “IROPS [Irregular Operations] are regular making in a way that will best achieve business and enabled through the implementation of
and normal somewhere in the network every day.” goals. innovative technologies in order to optimize the
Weather, aircraft on ground, crew disruptions, air profitability of capital intensive and cash flow
traffic delays… events totally out of the control of COnCLUSIOnS sensitive service oriented companies.
the airline can change the best scheduled journey. Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a framework and Prior to ICF SH&E Michael was a Principal at
The benefit of a navigation system over a flat map is human capital skill set that provides structure to several aviation consultancies including Aviation
that a map is static, hence outdated and incorrect as capability maturity; simplifying, de-risking and Wikinomics, Inc., Blue Water Solutions, LLC, and
soon as it’s printed. A navigation system is dynamic, improving the success probability of technology Accenture. Michael also served twelve years in
responding in real time to changes in the air and on implementation and business transformation. the US Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer and
the ground. EA must be led by business leaders supported by Gas Turbines Engineer.
The same principles apply to IT transformation. IT experts. Many doing a little is preferable to a Michael has published multiple articles
Every IT roadmap is based on a host of few doing a lot and ensures accurate information. on aligning business strategy to operations
assumptions that can change during execution. A Documenting the lifecycles of organizational execution with enabling information
vendor may discontinue one of its technologies; a structures, roles, workflows, processes, applications, technologies and is frequently called upon to
merger or acquisition may transform the business; data and infrastructure is critical to optimal decision present at aviation, aerospace and defense
new external regulations may be enforced; making. industry conferences.
geopolitical instability could spike the cost of fuel. Finally, the use of specialized EA tools offers a Michael holds a Bachelor, Nuclear Engineering
If you are always ready to react to these changes high return on investment and is critical to business from the Georgia Institute of Technology and
quickly with real time knowledge, they will be much success. At the end of the day, MS Office and a Masters, Decision Science and Operations
less of a challenge. Transforming the IT organization Post-it™ notes are no way to transform an airline. Research from Georgia State University.
is like being in command of a A native of Houston, Texas, Michael currently
cruise ship - it needs a lot of resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Jackie.
notice to change direction. If you
can see the iceberg – it’s already ASK THE EXPERT
too late! Michael Wm Denis is one of the world’s leading
In order to benefit from MRO IT expert consultants and is available all
dynamic navigation, it is year round for one-to-one consultancies via the
vital that you keep all your Ask The Expert feature at www.aircraftIT.com.
information and plans together He will be happy to assist you with your queries.
in one enterprise class system,
the map of your current location InTERACTIvE
ASK THE AUTHOR A QUESTIOn
and situation, the vision of your CLICK HERE TO LEAvE yOUR QUESTIOn
future landscape, the radar of
the environment in-between and
the flight plan for getting from
InTERACTIvE
JOIn THE dEbATE
one pace to the other. CLICK HERE TO LEAvE yOUR fEEdbACK AbOUT
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